Some of the last homeless hold outs at Library Park, Edward Allen, 60, and Joe Fulciniti, 46, hang out in front of the library Thursday as Monrovia puts pressure on them to leave. Monrovia is laying out a plan to address the issue of homelessness in the park with a committee’s recommendations that includes surveillance cameras and increasing police patrols.

Jennifer Williams, 34, who is homeless with her father, works on her laptop as she keeps an eye on their belongings in Monrovia's Library Park on Thursday, March 31, 2016. Monrovia is laying out a plan to address the issue of homelessness in the park with a committee's recommendations that includes surveillance cameras and increasing police patrols. Williams would like to see the city provide them lockers so that they can look for jobs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/Pasadena Star-News)

Edward Allen, 60, whose been homeless for seven years hangs out in Monrovia’s Library Park Thursday not far from his belongings. Monrovia is laying out a plan to address the issue of homelessness in the park with a committee’s recommendations that includes surveillance cameras and increasing police patrols. Allen’s daughter, who is homeless with him, would like to see the city provide lockers so that they can look for jobs.

MONROVIA >> The issue of homelessness in city parks continues to be a concern among some residents who complain of seeing open drug use or crude behavior when they are out in public with their families.

Despite steps by the city to address the issue over the past two years, such as conducting community outreach and implementing a neighborhood watch program for the parks, the problem really hasn’t gone away.

But there’s not a whole lot law enforcement can do about it.

“Some people have this misconception that police can just go in and tell them to leave or arrest them for being there and that’s not the case,” Police Chief Jim Hunt said.

Two years ago, the city began to address residents’ concerns over the number of homeless individuals in city parks by forming a committee, led by Hunt, that studied the issue and crafted recommendations for the City Council, including one that is now coming up for a vote.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider a request to install surveillance cameras in all nine city parks and 12 water well facilities. It will cost approximately $181,000, according to a staff report.

The cameras wouldn’t be monitored regularly but the dispatch center will have access to them so if they get a call for service, the dispatcher can pull up a camera and look at what’s going on.

Hunt said the cameras should prove to be a natural crime deterrent.

Municipal codes prevent the homeless from sleeping in city parks but Hunt said police can’t remove them unless an officer witnesses an infraction.

“Homeless people are citizens like anybody else and they have the right to be in a public space and they can have their belongings with them in a public space,” he said. “If they are intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics, then certainly we can take action, and we do.”

Since Oct. 1, the Monrovia Police Department has responded to 120 calls for service at Library Park, which is the most frequented among local transients.

Those calls resulted in a total of 36 arrests or citations issued, Hunt said.

Often the crimes are misdemeanors, which result in citations, and the perpetrator is released immediately.

Hunt described the process as a “revolving door.”

City Manager Oliver Chi said the city intends to increase police and park ranger patrols around Old Town and primarily near Library Park.

A staff member in the Community Services Division also has been tasked with conncting homeless individuals with local services, including food and shelter, he said.

Hunt said the police really hasn’t seen an increase in the number of homeless individuals in the city, but there hasn’t been a decrease either.

Monrovia has about 1 homeless person for every 1,000 residents.

Mayor Tom Adams said he hopes these additional steps will help solve the complex issue.

“There’s obviously a lot of compassion toward the homeless,” he said, “and I understand that, but we still need to have some control over things and I think at this point in time we’ve lost it.”

The City Council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 415 S. Ivy Ave.

Courtney Tompkins is a freelancer. Courtney previously covered Long Beach City Hall for the Press-Telegram and local government and education for the Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune. She is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where she studied journalism and international relations.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.